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Eau de Rodarte: Designers Collaborate with Lexus on Eco-Friendly Candle

Sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy are the designers behind Rodarte (their mother’s maiden name), the extraordinary young fashion label that won the 2008 Swarovski Award for Womenswear and gains legions of fans with each meticulously crafted new collection. Last week’s standing-room-only show saw the debut of not only Rodarte’s spring 2009 collection but also the fruits of the designers’ collaboration with Lexus Hybrid Living, the luxury car maker’s initative to showcase luxury products that prioritize sustainability. “Laura and I are very very particular about the things that we do, and particular about our own creative process, and we started working with Lexus Hybrid Living out of a mutual concern for the environment,” Kate Mulleavy told us. “My dad was a botanist and my mom was an artist and we grew up in this really beautiful, amazing landscape right near Monterrey, and that’s been such an overwhelming inspiration to us in most everything that we’ve done.”

The Rodarte show’s Chelsea venue was fragrant with the blend of Hawaiian orchid, camellia flower, sweet musk, Mirabelle plum, and Japanese quince that infused the natural soy candles (pictured at right) that attendees found on their seats inside glass containers (recyclable, of course) printed with rope imagery inspired by the work of Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki and encircled by a removable bracelet made of recycled Lexus car leather. “Laura and I really wanted to do something special and develop a candle to explore this idea of sustainability and how you can make things that really have an impact and a meaning in people’s lives—things that are thoughtful but that also do a lot in terms of getting the word out there about taking care of the environment,” said Kate. As for the limited edition scent, designed by the sisters along with the packaging, “It has this really beautiful, light floral note but in a more icy way,” Kate noted. “It reminds me of the idea of a blossom in snow.”